Dr. Nick: the Simpsons' endearing quack

"Hi, everybody!" Behind that cheery greeting hides Doctor Nick Riviera, the least recommendable physician in Springfield. A card-carrying quack, a low-cost surgeon and a graduate of an imaginary medical school, he is his patients' nightmare… and one of the funniest supporting characters in The Simpsons. A profile of a practitioner unlike any other.

Who is Dr Nick?

Doctor Nick Riviera is the crooked physician of Springfield: incompetent, corrupt and above all cheap, he performs medical procedures for money, with little concern for ethics or for his patients' health. A graduate of the highly dubious Hollywood Upstairs Medical College, he boasts of being "as good as Dr Hibbert" — when he is the exact opposite.

🎓 A diploma from the highly dubious Hollywood Upstairs Medical College doesn't deserve a frame; above your desk, the spot usually kept for diplomas goes to our Simpsons metal signs instead.

Where Doctor Hibbert embodies the serious, competent physician, Dr Nick is his perfect comic foil: the practitioner you only consult when you can no longer afford to go anywhere else.

"Hi, everybody!": his cult line

Impossible to mention Dr Nick without his ritual entrance. Every time he arrives somewhere, he lets out a cheerful "Hi, everybody!" — and the room answers him in chorus with "Hi, Dr Nick!". A running gag that became one of the show's sonic signatures, on a par with Homer's "D'oh!".

🚪 It takes a whole room to shout "Hi, Dr Nick!" back at him in chorus; at your place, the welcome comes down to just one of our Simpsons rugs, laid in the entryway to greet your guests right at the door.

The worst doctor in Springfield

Dr Nick's medical skills amount to a permanent sketch. He is ignorant of basic anatomy, mixes up organs, piles up grotesque errors and displays fanciful diplomas obtained from improbable "schools". His rock-bottom rates go hand in hand with botched, dangerous operations whose results very often leave much to be desired. A practitioner who gives the whole Simpson family cold sweats — and viewers a good laugh.

His "death" in the film… and his return

A cult moment: in The Simpsons Movie (2007), when the great glass dome imprisoning Springfield explodes, a shard impales Dr Nick. True to himself to the last, he twists his signature line into a hilariously heartbreaking "Bye, everybody!".

Except that… the show simply brought him back to life as early as season 20, with no real explanation (the writers later joked that he had merely been "knocked out"). The film's death was therefore never treated as canonical: a cheerful thumbing of the nose at continuity, very much in the show's spirit.

Behind-the-scenes trivia

Two delicious nods surround the character. His voice, by Hank Azaria, is by his own admission a "bad impression" of Ricky Ricardo (Lucy's husband in I Love Lucy). And his appearance is directly inspired by Gábor Csupó, co-founder of the animation studio behind the early seasons: convinced that Azaria was imitating their boss's accent, the animators drew Dr Nick in his likeness. He makes his debut in season 2 (1991), in the same episode as lawyer Lionel Hutz.

🖼️ Convinced that Azaria was imitating their boss's accent, the animators drew Dr Nick in Gábor Csupó's likeness; a drawn portrait really comes into its own in a large format, and our Simpsons posters give it that room on your bedroom wall.

Dr Nick's ID card

Frequently asked questions

• Is Dr Nick a real qualified doctor?
  Within the fiction, he claims a degree from the Hollywood Upstairs Medical College, a completely fanciful medical school, and displays various bogus diplomas. He is a notorious quack, the opposite of the serious Dr Hibbert.
• What is Dr Nick's cult line?
  On entering somewhere, he calls out "Hi, everybody!", to which the room answers in chorus "Hi, Dr Nick!". In the film, at the moment of his "death", he twists it into "Bye, everybody!".
• Who voices Dr Nick in the original version?
  Hank Azaria, one of the show's most prolific voices. He described the voice as a "bad impression" of Ricky Ricardo, the character from the sitcom I Love Lucy.
• Who is the character based on?
  His appearance is modelled on Gábor Csupó, the Hungarian-born co-founder of the Klasky Csupo studio that animated the early seasons: believing Azaria was imitating his accent, the animators drew the character as a nod to their boss.
• Which episode does he first appear in?
  In "Bart Gets Hit by a Car" (season 2, 1991), the episode in which Bart is run over by Mr. Burns' car. It is also the first appearance of lawyer Lionel Hutz.
• Does Dr Nick really die in the film?
  He "dies" on screen in The Simpsons Movie (2007), impaled by a shard of the glass dome. But the show brought him back as early as season 20: the film's death is therefore not treated as canonical.

In short

A quack with a broad smile, a low-cost surgeon and the king of bogus diplomas, Dr Nick Riviera is proof that in Springfield you had better not fall ill. From his "Hi, everybody!" to his improbable return from the dead, he remains one of the show's most irresistible supporting characters. To be enjoyed without moderation — unlike his prescriptions.